My wife loves that car

Walking to the exit at the Syracuse mega shopping, dining and entertainment complex Destiny USA, my dear wife Karen was drawn to the car in the corridor. It was not one of the shiny new models local dealers park here and there in these halls, the ones that leave me chuckling at the sticker price.…

Closed for Easter

After viewing “Heaven Is for Real” for my weekly film review for the Syracuse New Times site this afternoon, my dear wife Karen and I took a little walk around the Syracuse mega shopping, dining and entertainment complex Destiny USA. The entertainment and dining portions seemed to be business as usual. Eat-in restaurants were all…

Spring football, Syracuse style

The powers that be would love for Syracuse football to catch on in popularity that could compare with national champion Florida State, big-time power Clemson and other college-crazy environments in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Maybe someday. Not today. At the annual spring game that closes this off-season segment of college football practices, a couple thousand…

Now and then

Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle and I passed this pretty little corner of a neighbor’s front yard this April 19 in our morning walk through the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. Nice looking pine backed by a lawn yearning to turn green. Rather unassuming, though, right? But does it look vaguely familiar? The last time…

Now you are the beholder

The symmetry of spring cleanup caught me eye quickly this morning as Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle and I started our loop around the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. Across the street from the home I share with my dear wife Karen, four neighbors had placed bags from outdoor spring cleaning at the curb for…

A snowy spring hiccup

That is not the sight I wanted to wake up to on April 16 in Syracuse, N.Y. Not when just a day ago when I took a good, long look at this garden in our city neighborhood of Eastwood front yard, I was noting the yellow flowers of this forsythia that’s the cornerstone of the…

First color in our yard beats the return of snow

It’s been awhile coming this spring. With the winter we’ve had here in our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, it’s seemed like forever. Flower power arrived yesterday. We received the first burst of color. It came from the plant above, the one that we thought was from a tulip bulb that Karen missed when she…

Now that’s a front moving through

When my dear wife Karen and I pulled out of our driveway to drive an hour west to the Waterloo Premium Outlets early this afternoon, the car dashboard thermometer read 80 degrees. We enjoyed the last hour of the spring warmup, strolling the outdoor quad of stores in shirt sleeves. I wore shorts. But while…

Start wining, or, how to spend a sunny spring Saturday

The morning to yield wine tasting quickly turned sunny in Syracuse, N.Y. The group of 23 day-trippers gathered in a parking lot outside Syracuse mega shopping, dining and entertainment complex Destiny USA. Stories were shared. Some folks had taken a tour of the wineries an hour to the west in the Finger Lakes region of…

What lesson do I take from my shocking form?

Sometimes you see a picture of yourself in action and mutter, “Say what?” With my Thursday night bowling league coming down to the end of the season, I handed my teammate Steve my iPhone 4 and asked him to snap a few shots of me rolling the ball. He slid over for the best angle…